PODCAST

July 31st, 2016

Swords and rest are not two words generally found together. Where there is one, there is usually not the other. The writer of the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews draws the two together, however. God has extended an invitation to rest for His people. This promise goes back to the very first Sabbath, the seventh day on which God rested following creation (Genesis 2:2). Though some people refused to believe God’s promise and did not enjoy this rest, the promise, nevertheless, remained. This promised Sabbath-rest offers an end to “works,” with its constant efforts to earn salvation.

That is where the word of God comes in, it is “Sharper than any double-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). It has the power to pierce to the very “thoughts and attitudes of the heart,” exposing them as a surgeon might a malignant tumor. What rest! To know that it is not in our striving or struggle that salvation comes, but in simply abiding by faith in the Sabbath rest God offers, according to His grace and with the deep assurance of His word.